"Easy/Hard Majors" - Page 2
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vAltyR
United States581 Posts
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TheYango
United States47024 Posts
Coupled with this is the fact that everyone only has one major (sometimes 2), so its impossible to speak in a fair manner about different ones. Even if you have 2 majors, its impossible to talk about them fairly, because you might be better at one than the other, but your ego will just say the one you're worse at is "harder" even though it might not be to other people. On May 01 2009 07:41 EsX_Raptor wrote: What about Art vs Computer Science? I'm a CS major and currently taking an art class in which I literally don't study at all/take notes. I just sit there listening to the guy writing on the board, showing pictures, bringing stuff, and just memorize all of it, and always get A's for his papers, projects, and exams. But in my Programming Languages Concepts class I'm struggling like I'm carrying satan through hell; I'm barely passing it. And I love CS a million times better than I do art. =S That's an easy question to answer. Your art class is probably a lower-level class than your computer science class. Obviously, an intro class in ANY field is going to be easy, relative to the higher level classes. I'm sure there are art students that took an intro-level programming class and had your exact same thoughts. | ||
Falcynn
United States3597 Posts
Although I guess the trade off would be that after we graduate it's pretty fucking hard getting a decent paying job unless we have an outstanding demo reel. | ||
micronesia
United States24497 Posts
On May 01 2009 08:35 vAltyR wrote: Contrary to the saying, rocket science is actually really easy. How did you arrive at the conclusion that rocket science is really easy? I'm intrigued. @thread: My technical courses were easier for me when you factor in motivation. If I was a major in a much different field, I'd be unable to dedicate myself. Given this, I can't, in good conscious, claim that my major was more difficult than someone in one of those other fields since those students apparently can do it. But... it still was frustrating when people in certain majors/schools at my university would be joking around night after night while I constantly had a lot of shit to do -_- | ||
n-o0O-b
United States54 Posts
On May 01 2009 07:52 KOFgokuon wrote: chemistry and biology majors are chemical engineers who couldn't hack it ^_^ QFT ChE major requries the most units out of all BS majors. | ||
L
Canada4732 Posts
The reverse distinction, that ALL majors are the SAME is ridiculous. They teach different material. The presupposition is that they would be different in difficulty, not the same. Even certain graduate programs are vastly easier than others, or easier or harder than their undergraduate equivalent. What's the next ego boosting pretend statement? That all classes are equally hard? That all sections of the same course are equally hard? That all lectures are equally hard? That's crazy? I thought so. So yes, poli sci is a joke of a major. Don't take offense to it, it doesn't mean you personally are dumb, it just means your degree is far easier to obtain than at the bachelor's level than others. | ||
Slithe
United States985 Posts
On May 01 2009 09:37 L wrote: I think its fairly obvious that there are different levels of difficulty in different degrees. Nearly everyone I've ever talked to has seen a roughly equivalent hierarchy across a number of very competitive universities. The reverse distinction, that ALL majors are the SAME is ridiculous. They teach different material. The presupposition is that they would be different in difficulty, not the same. Even certain graduate programs are vastly easier than others, or easier or harder than their undergraduate equivalent. What's the next ego boosting pretend statement? That all classes are equally hard? That all sections of the same course are equally hard? That all lectures are equally hard? That's crazy? I thought so. So yes, poli sci is a joke of a major. Don't take offense to it, it doesn't mean you personally are dumb, it just means your degree is far easier to obtain than at the bachelor's level than others. Although you are correct in that some bachelor's degrees will be easier to obtain than others, I don't think that's an appropriate reason to say that a certain major is a joke of a major. Just because some people don't take their major seriously does not mean that the subject that they study is somehow a joke. In the end, this stuff evens out, because people in each field know the relative worth of a degree. For example, you can come out of Computer Science with a bachelor's and get a decent job immediately. If you want to do any kind of meaningful work in Psychology, you'll need to go to graduate school. Anyone doing the baseline amount of work in any major won't amount to all that much anyway, regardless of what major they are in. It's just that some majors let more slackers trickle through than others. | ||
SOB_Maj_Brian
United States522 Posts
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Salv
Canada3083 Posts
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Pseudo_Utopia
Canada827 Posts
Seems to me it's about how natural the classes are to us. It is natural to have some ability to understand human interactions, like politics, psychology, or languages. Our ancestors needed this to survive in the harsh human climate. In fact, acute sensibilities of many different kinds have had to develop in our brains to generate our social intelligence, which sees lightning-fast distinctions in minor tone changes during a speech, for example. Our brain is way more naturally geared for the understanding of emotional and social connotation than for abstract thinking like the mathematics of engineering, physics, or systems that are unperceived directly. Our ancestors only needed a minimal knowledge of natural science - enough to make a fire, build a house, hunt, etc. and so our genes don't mesh so well with nanotechnology, biological principles or carbon cycles. But now, technology has hit a very quick increase compared to 2000, 5000, 10000+ years ago, which was when most of our genes were evolved. So we have an army of people who accept to memorize/understand all these abstract systems, simply because we NEED them now and cannot survive comfortably without them. | ||
Kentor
United States5784 Posts
On May 01 2009 07:52 KOFgokuon wrote: chemistry and biology majors are chemical engineers who couldn't hack it ^_^ what do chem Es do afterward anyway? work with oil or in a huge factory thats loud as hell 24/7? | ||
Jibba
United States22883 Posts
On May 01 2009 09:37 L wrote: So yes, poli sci is a joke of a major. This is where your post goes awry. At most schools, poli sci degrees are easier to obtain than engineering degrees and as you said, this is relative to the schools themselves. There are lots of idiots earning poli sci degrees and not so many idiots earning degrees in physics. But the degree itself is not what earns distinction for a major; physics as a natural science is not inherently more valuable than political science as a social science. I think you're discounting the work all people in political science do, when you're really only looking to demean those at the bottom of political science, or at the very least, the average person with a political science BA. | ||
LosingID8
CA10824 Posts
you'll most likely end up with a C in the course. | ||
Jibba
United States22883 Posts
On May 01 2009 10:21 LosingID8 wrote: lol good luck trying to go into a test with simply pure memorization on my physiology exams. you'll most likely end up with a C in the course. I believe you, and unfortunately at the 100-200 level the same cannot be said for many social sciences. I think this is an indictment against those who teach, rather than the fields themselves. | ||
mahnini
United States6862 Posts
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520
United States2822 Posts
If you're bad with logic, Comp Sci is going to be harder to you than someone who's good at it. If you can't think in the abstract, Maths is going to be harder for you than someone who can. It's all subjective. | ||
520
United States2822 Posts
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L
Canada4732 Posts
I don't think that's an appropriate reason to say that a certain major is a joke of a major. I do. When a major is consistently easier across universities, countries, and continents, it points to the core fact that there is simply:Less material to learn and Less complex material to learn. I think you're discounting the work all people in political science do, when you're really only looking to demean those at the bottom of political science, or at the very least, the average person with a political science BA. Am I? I specifically stated that I was talking about the bachelor level. I know very well that the composition of graduate school and post doctoral work brings out very different people but that doesn't change the fact that a BA in poli sci is a joke. You admit that poli sci will pass 'idiots' and that the degree is 'easier'. QED. Your confusion over the value of a degree and the value of a faculty or area of expertise is similarly misled. I never stated that political science as a whole is less useful than physics as a whole. I stated that the accreditation itself is a joke. I think sanitation is massively important, but that doesn't mean I want bachelors given out for tossing garbage into the back of a truck. Poli Sci shouldn't worry that much, though. There are far worse majors. Physical education comes to mind. "and today, we're going to have an exam on soccer!" It's all subjective. No it isn't. It isn't subjectively harder to climb Everest than walk over the hill in your local park. There is are substantial variances in the volume and complexity of work in different fields. | ||
Jibba
United States22883 Posts
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L
Canada4732 Posts
An academic major, major concentration, concentration, or simply major is mainly a U.S. and Canadian term for a college or university student's main field of specialization during his or her undergraduate studies And no, I didn't specify BA. I specified bachelors degree, ie BEng BSc BA and so on. Wasting time on semantics when you already conceded all of the points i needed to make my argument is bad form. | ||
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